


Flyers

by hobbit_hedgehog



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Carlos is Human, Cecil is Human, Cecil is a Dork, Fix-It, Fluff, Intern Maureen - Freeform, M/M, Reunion Fic, kind of, spoilers for episode 51
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-08
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-02-12 07:11:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2100324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hobbit_hedgehog/pseuds/hobbit_hedgehog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos hasn't contacted Cecil in a long time, causing the radio host to do something silly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flyers

**Author's Note:**

> Have a fix-it because episodes 46-51 have made me sad

When Cecil first stopped receiving Carlos’s messages, he thought nothing of it. It’s no big deal, Cecil told himself, Carlos was doing important science out in the desert and there was no need to worry about him not messaging. Carlos had done this sort of thing before, and he always contacted Cecil eventually. And besides, Cecil told himself as he curled around a pillow at night and stared at his phone until he fell asleep, Carlos is a scientist. And a scientist is always… usually…. fine. It was after a week and a half of silence from Carlos that Cecil begins to worry, and after two weeks, Cecil was in full on panic mode.

“Oh gods, what if he’s been hurt?” Cecil muttered as he paced back and forth in the radio station’s lounge. “Or he decided that he wants to be with that jerk Doug?”

“I’m sure that Carlos is fine Cecil,” Intern Maureen responded without looking up from editing Cecil’s latest slash fiction, a hint of exasperation in her voice.

“You don’t know that,” Cecil snapped, earning him a glare from over the rims of the intern’s glasses. “Oh gods, you don’t think he’s, you know, dead do you?”

“Quite frankly Cecil, no, I don’t,” Maureen stated bluntly, tossing her carefully constructed not-pen onto the table. “Look, Carlos is a scientist. A scientist with no sense of self-preservation, sure, but a scientist nonetheless. He’s smart, he’s resourceful. Maybe he lost his phone, maybe he’s too caught up in science to call. Hell, maybe, just maybe, he found a way out of the desert otherworld and is trying to find his way back into Night Vale without telling you so you can be surprised when he gets here, I don’t know. If you’re really that concerned, maybe you could ask around Night Vale and who knows? Maybe someone’s been in contact with your science fella recently.”

Cecil stopped his nervous pacing and slowly turned to Maureen, a look of dawning comprehension on his face.

“Maureen. You. Are. A. GENIUS!” Cecil shouted, running up to the intern and picking her up in a strong bear hug, eliciting an undignified squawk from the girl. “I’ll put up lost scientist posters around town! And if someone finds Carlos, they can let me know! This is why I keep you around, you’re a smart one.”

“If I’m a smart one then you should start paying me,” Maureen hissed under her breath as she pushed Cecil away from her.

Cecil, however, wasn’t listening. He was too busy formatting a flyer in his head.  
~~  
Two days later, Night Vale was littered with flyers on paper of various shades of purple. Each flyer had a picture of Carlos attempting to hide himself behind a clipboard and the following message:

MISSING SCIENTIST  
Last seen about two months ago, last heard from about two weeks ago, supposedly still trapped in a desert otherworld  
Has perfect hair, a square jaw, teeth like a military cemetery  
Probably dressed in flannel and a lab coat, responds to Carlos and/or Carlos the Scientist  
If found, please return to Cecil Gershwin Palmer at the Night Vale Community Radio Station  
If you have heard from Carlos, tell him that Cecil misses him and direct him to the Night Vale Community Radio Station so that he can be reunited with his boyfriend (Please, I miss him)

The news of Cecil’s flyers spread around town quickly and soon, people were calling Cecil left, right, up and down seeing if Carlos had been returned to Cecil. Alas, the universe had not been so kind. 

~~

Two weeks had passed since Cecil had had Maureen, against her wishes and grumbling the whole time, distribute the flyers around Night Vale. Two weeks had passed and no one had heard from or seen Carlos around Night Vale. Cecil began to fear the worst, that Carlos would never return to Night Vale. He made a point to be as optimistic as he could on the air, but in private it was an entirely different story. Cecil checked his phone one last time before starting his broadcast, hopeful that Carlos had texted him or that someone had heard from the scientist and decided to tell Cecil. But as it had been for the last two weeks, there was nothing. With a sigh, Cecil turned off his phone and slipped it into his pocket. Maureen tapped on the glass of the studio, signaling that they were about to begin. Cecil straightened as the broadcast began.

“The stars in the night sky wink down at you as you gaze solemnly upward, winking as if the two of you had just shared an inside joke. A gruesome inside joke only to be known between you and the endless void, a terrible inside joke that you will take to your early grave. Welcome to Night Vale.”

~~

“The Ralph’s is currently hiring both part-time and full-time exterminators,” Cecil droned in a monotone. “The bioluminescent ladybug infestation has become quite the problem and management is willing to pay top dollar for anyone brave enough to venture into the dairy section of the store. If you are incredibly brave, and or incredibly stupid, the phone number for management is-.”

Cecil’s comment was cut short as the door to the studio was flung wide open. Cecil spun in his seat to chastise the intruder, but froze in his seat. Standing in the doorway was a dirty, disheveled and incredibly rugged looking Carlos who, in turn, was wearing a sheepish grin.

“I’m here to respond to a missing scientist flyer,” Carlos mumbled, holding his arms out for a hug.

“CARLOS!” Cecil shouted, launching himself from his seat and into the scientist’s waiting arms. The two met in a tight hug and a frantic kiss that lasted for a few seconds before Cecil pulled back to ask, “Where the hell have you bee-.”

There was a frantic tapping sound on the glass. Cecil and Carlos snapped their heads toward the sound, finding an annoyed looking Maureen who was pointing to the still lit “On Air” sign. With a cough and a blush, Cecil and Carlos separated. Cecil stepped back to the microphone and pulled it close.

“Listeners, today is a happy day indeed,” Cecil said, tears forming in his eyes. “Carlos, my dear, sweet, perfect, ruggedly handsome Carlos, has finally returned to Night Vale. More on this story in a few minutes as I take you now, overjoyed and full of that odd emotion called love, to the weather.”

As the weather began and Maureen turned her back on the studio, Cecil turned back to Carlos and pulled him into a tight embrace; resting his head on the shorter man’s shoulder as tears finally fell.

“I’m so sorry Cecil,” Carlos murmured as he stroked Cecil’s hair. “I really am. Things went horribly wrong in the desert and I lost my phone so I had no way to contact you. I’ve spent weeks trying to find a way back, I really was.”

“I believe you Carlos, and I am so glad that you’re home now,” Cecil responded, kissing Carlos’s cheek. “You can tell me all about it when we get home. Let me just finish up the show and then we can go home, get you cleaned up and fed ok?”

Carlos nodded and Cecil kissed his cheek, turning back to the microphone while still clutching Carlos’s hand, “Listeners, I am holding Carlos’s hand as I speak to you. He is real and he is most definitely home. At this moment, I do not know what events transpired in the desert otherworld for these last few weeks, but I do know that Carlos is home and safe. And for that, I am eternally grateful. Due to the occasion, I send you back into the night a little earlier than usual. Stay tuned for the sounds of joyous reunion and as always: good night, Night Vale, good night.”

Pulling off his headphones as the “On Air” sign turned off, Cecil turned to Carlos with a teary grin.

“Let’s go home.”


End file.
